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Brand Personality

April 23, 2019

In the last blog, we continued the discussion of formulating your Brand Strategy with a discussion of your core values.

If you’re an off-premise retailer, you sell brands. If you’re an on-premise retailer you may sell brands or create your own. Either way, you need to understand how YOUR brand personality is perceived by you customers.

What is brand personality? It is the tone and attitude that begins to immediately separate your company from the competition.

Think of the following mythical bars and bartenders and see if you can guess what TV show they are from:

Paddy’s Pub

Moe’s

Snakehole Lounge

Maclaren’s

Emerald City

One Eyed Jack’s

The Regal Beagle

Bada Bing

Isaac the bartender

The Tropicana

Cheers

Kelsey’s

If you were going out for a beer, would you rather go to Paddy’s or Cheers? How about McLaren’s or Emerald City? If you are a Baby Boomer or part of the Greatest Generation, you would probably go to the Tropicana or Kelsey’s. Each of these venues “fit” the characters that frequented them. People choose to shop or eat at stores that solve a problem for them.

For example, do they represent the traits of the key people in your company? Do they represent the kind of employees who succeed in your company? Are they part of your interview process when evaluating potential hires?

Will these traits work across all your marketing communications both internally and externally?

Will these traits appeal to your current heavy users?

Wll these traits differentiate you and help attract new customers?

You can’t be all things to all people. You have to stand for something with someone. When people hear your name, you want them to feel something. You may offend some people and that is OK! Just like with people, those personalities that rise above the rest may be viewed unfavorably by others. This is natural and is a sign that you have struck pay dirt with someone.

Look no further than your favorite female singer who can be identified by one name. Cher, Brittany, Madonna, Gaga, Beyonce and Pink. All are all very successful yet resonate with different groups because of their personality and how they present themselves.

Your brand personality must not only engage people, it should inspire commitment! That will be the basis for a relationship that will build upon the value your brand offers. Mainstream is not your sweet spot.

There are no longer markets for products that everyone likes a little, but there will always be markets for products that someone likes a lot!

In the next blog, we will continue this discussion and dive deeper into your brand icons.

Marketing is a race with no finish line!

George Latella teaches Food Marketing at Saint Joseph’s University in Philadelphia. Food Marketing which is the largest major at Saint Joseph’s University recently celebrated its 57th anniversary. George is also a partner in Beacon Marketing group which provides Marketing planning, research, and e-commerce/direct marketing communications for food and beverage companies. George can be reached at glatella@sju.edu or 610-660-2254.